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The UK is now became home to 1,743 off-shore wind turbines due to a huge increase in production throughout 2017 (according to statistics released by the trade body Wind Europe). Total capacity across Europe grew by more than 3.1GW to reach a total of 15.8GW with the UK accounting for 1.7GW of that in 2017 alone.

A total of 13 offshore wind farms were completed within the UK and it's bodies of water including the world's first floating offshore wind farm - Hywind, Scotland.​

For the past couple of weeks, there has been very little wind making it's way to the UK. What has been dubbed the 'wind drought' has pushed up day-ahead prices to the highest level for this time of year for at least a decade. Today, the 14th June, the first peak in wind levels has arrived but it is not expected to last.​

​The wind turbines within the UK can generate the equivalent in power as what 12 nuclear reactors can when the conditions are right. During the recent 'beast from the east' storms that battered the UK throughout March, they generated record levels of power and at times provided the biggest share of the nation's electricity.

Fortunately, the low wind power is not a threat to supplies in June as the demand for power is much lower than other times of the year. The problem with relying solely on wind and solar for our supply is that people begin to worry of 'brownouts'.

According to data from the UK government, coal-fired power plants only supplied 2% of the electricity in the United Kingdom during the first 6 months of 2017. That is a huge change from just five years ago where coal supplied 40% of the UK's electricity needs each year. This is mostly down to the huge increase in renewables which now account for 25% of the electricity in the country.

​Despite coal plants still generating power across the UK, the demand is so small that occasionally now the National Grid is able to turn these plants off completely as enough power is being generated from other sources. A reflection of this is shown in the number of active coal mines in the UK. In the 1960's there were more than 1,000. Today, there are just 10.

Scotland has already made the move to being 'coal-free' after they shut off it's final coal power plant in the spring of 2016. They have a goal of supplying 100% of its electricity demand from renewables by 2020.

Through the duration of 2016, the rate of new energy being created by Solar Panel installations grew faster than any other form of power according to the International Energy Agency. This is a significant step in using cleaner, renewable sources for our energy requirements.

A staggering 165 gigawatts of renewables were completed last year which accounted for two thirds of the net expansion of electricity supply for the year. A lot of the huge increase in solar power use is thanks to China. China installed almost as much solar in 2016 as all the other countries in the world combined. This surge of photovoltaics being installed throughout China is largely down to government support for renewables after the population has become increasingly concerned about the dire air pollution problems.

Source: Bloomberg

The International Energy Agency is predicting that 1,000 gigawatts of renewables will be installed in the next five years; a milestone that coal only accomplished after 80 years.

Solar eclipses are a natural occurrence that happen on average every 18 months somewhere around the world. The next solar eclipse due to cast a shadow upon the surface of our planet will be on August 21st as it travels across the United States of America from the north west, down to the south east of the country.​

A solar eclipse is nothing new, but the problem we are beginning to face now we are turning to more renewable resources for electricity is that when these sources are interrupted they can have detrimental effects on the power grid.

​Previously, a solar eclipse had little to no effect. The gas and nuclear power plants would chug along just as they always had done; producing the power we consume daily. Now, a large proportion of our power comes from solar and the sudden drop in solar input means we need to be prepared for the outage with other sources. ​

Prediction of power loss in PJM’s mid-Atlantic region from shadowing during the upcoming August 21 solar eclipse, following four different scenarios.

​Power grids are not designed for solar eclipses. They ha​ppen a lot faster than the incremental decrease or increase in power that is seen with a sunrise or sunset. Eclipses also affect a wider area than that of a typical cloud bank. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation has urged areas with high solar penetration to prepare plans for the event; notably the states of Nevada and North Carolina.

North Carolina will be hit hard due to the fact they have installed more than 3,000 megawatts of solar power electricity and the eclipse is due to block out more than 90% of sunshine across the entire state. It highlights the fragility of renewable sources and how for the time being until situations like this can be cared for independently, a backup of other power resources need to remain.

Tesla started pre-orders for Solar Roof installations during Q2 of this year, and since then has begun installations on employee houses. Elon Musk, JB Straubel both have it installed on their properties.

Solar Roof which was first unveiled back in October 2016 is the first of its kind. The product which is designed to resemble a normal roof, but contains hundreds of hidden solar panels within the tiles removes the need for panels bolted onto the exterior of the roof.

​The only real downside with Solar Roof is that currently it is expensive. For example, to add Solar Roof to a 2,000 square foot home would cost in the region of $50,000. However, like with most technology, the pricing is likely to come down pretty quickly in the months and years to come. ​#tesla #solarroof

​​"Imagine we could control the weather - pushing a button to make it warmer or cooler, wetter or drier."

"The implications would be enormous. No more droughts or floods, no heat waves or icy roads. Deserts would become verdant. Crops would never fail.

In fact climate change has sparked some crazy-sounding ideas for hacking the climate, such as spraying sulphuric acid into the upper atmosphere, or dumping quicklime in the oceans.​Since the invention of air conditioning, we have been able to control the weather inside, and that has had some some far-reaching and unexpected effects."

It really is quite amazing to think we are able to change the environment around us when indoors. Perhaps it is only a matter of time before we can do the same for the outside world.

Burbo Bank; a wind farm off the northwest coast of England has been around for roughly a decade but there has been a recent addition.​

​32 new super tall wind turbines have been added to the existing network. Thew super tall wind turbines are actually the tallest in the world standing at an impressive 195 metres tall. Each of the three blades are 80 metres long allowing for gargantuan amounts of electricity to be generated from each rotation.

It has been noted that a single revolution of the blades on just one of the turbines can power an average home for 29 hours. It's an impressive fact and it paves the way for future installations of wind farms.

Tesla recently announced a major solar energy project for the island of Ta'u. A small island of 600 habitants which forms part of the American Samoa.

The project which is essentially a microgrid, consisting of 5,328 solar panels will generate enough electricity for virtually all 100% of the islanders needs for an entire 3 days without any sunlight. That is thanks to the 60 individual Tesla battery storage units they have also installed to hold onto that energy from the sun.

​Ta'u previously ran mostly off of diesel generators and use to go through an estimated 109,500 gallons of diesel each and every year. It is evident to see that a huge saving both economically and environmentally are going to be made form this venture. "Factoring in the escalating cost of fuel, along with transporting such mass quantities to the small island, the financial impact is substantial," said Tesla in a blog post."

The UK on Friday 21st April 2017 managed to go the entire 24 hours without having to rely on any power sourced from coal power. It is the first time it has happened since the industrial revolution in 1888.

​​It is not the first time we have gone without coal-power for a period of time, but the last record was 19 hours in 2016. The fact that this time it was an entire day shows that we no longer need to rely on coal power to power the UK.